Fireworks are guaranteed when Four Nations rugby league comes to the Ricoh on November 5, but the sport has already left a big imprint on the club who have called the stadium home for nearly two years.

Wasps boss Dai Young spent six years playing the 13-man sport between 1990 and 1996, and has always been receptive to transferring league skills into the 15-man game.

He has recently added rugby league convert Kyle Eastmond to his playing squad, while Wasps’ defence coach Phil Blake and his predecessor Brad Davis are both viewed with reverence in rugby league circles in their native Australia following glittering playing careers.

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Young believes it is no coincidence that Blake and Davis plus the likes of Andy Farrell and Mike Ford have made their initial transfer from league to union as defensive coaches.

“Phil was a fantastic league player and has good experience now as a coach in both league and union,” Wasps’ boss says. “He’s built on the work Brad did over the three previous years, when he’d done a tremendous job putting defensive structures and policies in place, and has taken it on another level.

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“When you look at rugby league it has two facets - attack and defence. It doesn’t have the set-piece things we work on in union, so coaches very much concentrate on this when they dissect the game.

“Traditionally it is defence experts who have come across to union because they've spent so much time working in that area, they have then been able to take union defence to another level.”

Dai Young

Young spent time in the southern hemisphere in his formative coaching years, and has an extremely open-minded approach to innovation. This philosophy is evident in Wasps’ off-field evolution, where Derek Richardson’s financial input has allowed their support team to match any of their Premiership rivals.

“The game doesn’t stand still for anybody,” Young says, “and you have to constantly look at other sports to see what you can adapt and exchange.

“League is obviously the closest game to union, and by being professional longer had things like stats and analysis a lot earlier. Union has now taken that on a step further, and we’re always constantly looking for new ideas.

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“It seems like we’ve possibly now taken as much as we can from league, and watching it they are now taking some things back from us - for instance you never used to see a loose forward pick up and pass like a No.8, but you get that now.

“People have also looked at Australian rules and used some of those skills in union. Dave Alred, the renowned kicking and catching coach, has also spent a lot of time with Premiership football goalkeepers analysing how they catch crosses, so there’s always things you can learn from other sports, and if you stop looking and adapting the game passes you by.”